


The River

by bookmaniac



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Uncle/Niece Incest, circa season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 12:17:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1744322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmaniac/pseuds/bookmaniac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie falls into a river while being chased by militia. Miles jumps in after her, but he comes out worse for wear. Shameless Miles whump. Miles/Charlie, don't like, don't read, don't complain. Two Shot. Reposted from my Fanfiction account.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

            Charlie’s breath burned in her throat. Her lungs were aching, and the sound of gunfire echoed behind her. She and Miles were supposed to be a distraction for the militia, while Nora and Aaron helped the resistance, but to be honest the plan had been easier in theory. Now they were running for their lives along the steep edge of a river, with the militia nipping at their heels, and gaining fast.

            Charlie looked over her shoulder to see how close the militia were, and to confirm that Miles was still behind her. But her foot slipped over the edge of the ledge, and with a startled shriek, she fell into the raging waters of the river below.

            “Charlie!” Miles yelled, skidding to a halt. He watched as his niece was washed back down stream the direction they’d come. She bobbed around erratically in the rushing water, unable to keep her head above for more then a few seconds and a time. His head whipped around as the militia came crashing around the bend, guns at the ready, and aimed at him. He looked back between the river and the militia, and ultimately decided that it was better to get wet then to be riddled with bullets. “Damn it,” he cursed, and with a running leap, jumped in after Charlie.

            From beneath the surface of the water, he could hear the muffled sound of gunshots, but he was quickly swept away by the current. He broke the surface of the water with a gasp, fighting to keep his head above water.

            “Charlie!” he called, looking for any sign of her.

            “Miles!” he heard her cry a few yards downstream.

            Miles began to swim with the current, speeding towards Charlie, who was struggling to stay above water. His limbs were numb from the cold, and he was slowly loosing energy.

 Suddenly, the river sped up. Normally, the river would have been a few feet higher, but with the approaching autumn, the water had fallen below its usual levels, creating a hazardous group of rapids, which both Miles and Charlie were now both speeding towards.

            Miles gasped as he was thrown violently against the rocks. He spun around in the water, trying to keep himself off the rocks, but to very little avail. Water tried to fill his lungs as he was repeatedly thrust under the surface. He lost sight of Charlie, who had spun off another direction.

 He managed to grabbed hold of a rock, the water spinning around him. He scanned the river in front of him for any sign of Charlie - a cry for help, a flash of blonde hair, anything.

“Miles!”

He whipped his head around, searching for Charlie. He found her near the middle of the river, clinging to a branch that had gotten lodged amongst the rapids. Her hair was plastered to her face, and she looked scared, but otherwise she seemed to be in one piece.

“Just hold tight, I’ll come to you,” he told her.

She nodded and tightened her grip on the piece of wood.

With a grunt, Miles moved sideways against the current. It took nearly all his strength to fight to get from each rock, but slowly he made his way across the river to Charlie. He gasped as he cut his hand on a rock and lost his grip. He was caught in the current again and thrown against some rocks.

“No!” Charlie cried.

Miles managed to lift himself up on another rock, gasping. His whole body hurt. Charlie was now upstream from him; it would be impossible for him to fight his way back up to her in his state.

“You’re going to have to let go,” he called, repositioning himself on the rock. “Let the water carry you, I’ll catch you.”

“Are you sure?” she hesitated.

“Trust me.”

She looked back at her branch, the only thing keeping her above water and out of the crushing current. If he missed, if he didn’t catch her, she would be surely swept away and break her neck against the rapids. But her branch was weakening with every passing minute, soft from being in the water for so long, and she couldn’t hold on forever.

“Ok,” she said looking back at Miles. She scaled along her branch, easing herself back into the current. She looked back at Miles, fear hiding in her eyes, and let go.

She was sucked under immediately. She clamped her eyes and mouth shut, letting the water carry her away. Time lost all its meaning, seconds felt like minutes, and she began to panic that Miles had indeed missed her and that she was flowing right to her death. She opened her eyes, which were assaulted by the cold water of the river, blinding her. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, and she was quickly running out of air.

Suddenly, there was a strong arm around her waist, and the air rushed out of her lungs. She gasped as she was pulled above water, blinking to clear her vision, gripping her new lifeline.

“I got you, I got you,” Miles assured her, ignoring the vice like grip she had on his arm.

He held her to him, keeping her out of the current. They were together now, which was better, but they were still stuck in the middle of the rapids. Miles looked around for a way out. They were too far from either shore to swim there, and the rapids just kept going…

“Miles?”

He looked down at Charlie, who was looking up at him with scared, tired eyes.

He sighed and looked back at the river. “We’re going to have to ride it out,” he said.

“What?”

“The water’s got to smooth out eventually,” he said. “If we just ride through it we should come out the other end in one piece.”

“Should?” she asked incredulously.

“It’s the only plan I’ve got, Charlie,” he exclaimed with frustration.

She looked back at the river with hesitation. “Ok,” she said.

They waded back to the edge of the current. Charlie looked at it with a twinge of fear. Miles looked at it with disdain.

Miles turned to Charlie. “Whatever you do, don’t let go,” he ordered her.

She nodded and gripped tight to the shoulder of his shirt, pressing herself to him. He wrapped his arms around her and looked at the river.

“Big breath,” he told her, and plunged them both in.


	2. Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours, the rapids finally ended and the river smoothed out. Coughing and gasping for breath, Miles and Charlie crawled onto dry land, soaked to the bone.  
“You ok?” Miles asked Charlie, who was bent over, coughing the last of the water from her lungs.  
“Yeah,” she replied shakily. “I’m good. You?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he panted, brushing his wet hair back out of his eyes.  
“Thanks for saving me,” Charlie said standing up, brushing off the mud that was caked to her jeans.  
“Don’t mention it,” he said getting up, but cried out in pain and doubled over.  
“Miles!” Charlie exclaimed, running over and kneeling next to him. “I thought you said you were fine.”  
“I’ve been wrong before,” he grunted, gripping his chest.  
Charlie looked at the forest around them, which was quickly turning dark with the approaching twilight. There was no way they’d catch up again with Aaron and Nora, not today. “Come on,” she said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “We need to make camp before it gets too dark.”  
“Charlie,” Miles complained as she tried to help him up.  
She wasn’t having any. “Come on, you’re hurt. Let me help you.”  
Seeing no way out of it, Miles complied with a sigh. He groaned as she helped lift him from the ground, letting her support him as they gradually made their way deeper into the forest.  
They set up camp a few hundred feet from the water in a small clearing of trees. Charlie set Miles down against a fallen log and immediately went to work, throwing her wet jacket aside and starting on a fire.  
After a few minutes, she had a steadily growing flame. Charlie tended the fire, poking it with a stick to make sure there was enough room for air to feed the flames. She heard a small gasp and looked over at Miles, who was trying to bandage the hand he’d hurt earlier trying to save her.  
She set down her stick and walked over to him. “You got that?”  
She watched as he took a flask of whiskey and poured some over the long gash across the palm his hand. He gritted his teeth at the burning pain. “Yeah I’m fine,” he gasped. He fumbled with a strip of cloth, trying to wrap it around his hand.  
“Here, let me get that,” Charlie said kneeling down next to him and taking the cloth from him. She wrapped the fabric gently around his hand, making sure the whole wound was covered before knotting it on the back of his hand. “There, much better,” she said looking up at him.  
“Thanks,” he said rubbing his hand, briefly meeting her gaze.  
“How are you feeling?” she asked after a moment. Miles had had a much more brutal time in the river then she had, and the fact that he could hardly walk on his own concerned her.  
“I’ll let you know once I can actually move,” he winced.  
Charlie smiled and started unpacking their bags, trying to dry out the contents as much as she could. Their clothes would dry fine, it was things like maps and food that would be harder to salvage.  
“Hey, want me to lay out your swords to dry off?” she called over to Miles. She knew he was particular about his weapons. He’d probably have a conniption if they started to rust.  
“Yeah, sure,” he said and twisted to undo the scabbard from his belt, but doubled over and gasped in pain.  
“What’s wrong?” Charlie asked, rushing to his side putting a hand on his shoulder to steady him.  
“Nothing, just – got a bit bang up in those rapids, that’s all,” he ground out, his face contorting in pain.  
“Well it’s obviously something if it’s causing you this much pain,” she argued. “Come on, let me take a look at it.”  
She carefully helped Miles out of his shirt and jacket, which she threw over by the fire to dry.  
“Oh my God, Miles,” Charlie breathed at the sight of his battered chest. It was covered in splotches of black and blue, and looked painfully swollen in places. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, looking up at him.  
He looked away. “It wasn’t important.”  
She wanted to smack him. “Don’t be stupid, of course it is.”  
She ran her fingers across his abs, checking for injuries beneath the surface. When her fingers probed a particularly swollen area, Miles gasped and grabbed Charlie by the wrist, startling her.  
“Fractured rib,” Charlie explained. “You’ve got a couple of them. Nothing too serious, but if we don’t set them they could get worse,” she said. “Miles,” she said after a minute. “You think you could let go of my hand?”  
Miles looked down at his hand, which was still gripping tightly to her wrist. “Right, sorry,” he said releasing her hand.  
Hand now free, Charlie began rummaging through their packs. She pulled out one of his old, worn shirts and, before he could object, started to cut it into a big strip with her knife. When she was done, she threw aside the remains of the shirt and knelt back by his side.  
“Here, sit up,” she told him. With a grunt, Miles slowly lifted himself upright; Charlie held a hand against his bare back, assisting. “This might hurt,” she warned, as she began to wrap the bandage tightly around his chest.  
Miles drew a sharp breath as she bound it tighter. “You sure you know what you’re doing?” he panted, skin starting to shine with sweat.  
Charlie smirked. “I spent enough time with Maggie to learn a thing or two,” she assured him. After another gasp of pain she looked up at him in concern. “Do you want me to stop?” she asked.  
“No,” he grunted. “Just – just finish it,” he said tiredly, starting to lean against her.  
She nodded her head and went back to work. Miles tried to focus on something – anything – other then the burning ache that radiated from his chest with every breath.  
He settled on the fire behind them. He listened to the crackle of the wood as it burned, smelled the smoky as it drifted through the air. The light of the flames created haunting shadows amongst the trees around them, but cast a warm glow onto everything within the clearing.  
Almost against his will, his eyes drifted to Charlie. Her bare arms glowed in the firelight, her jacket having been left to dry by the fire, leaving her only in her blue tank top. The light made her blonde hair shine like gold, making it seem like she was the source of light rather then the flames. He traced the curve of her body with his eyes, up her shoulder and to her face, which was screwed in concentration as she worked. He noted how the shadows dancing across her face made her look older beyond her years.  
It was then that he realized how close they were. By now, he was leaning heavily against Charlie, one arm draped over her shoulder. He could feel the warmth of her skin beneath his, her damp hair brushing against his arm. They’d never been this close before.  
Miles winced as Charlie knotted off the dressing by his side.  
“Done,” she said, gently smoothing out the wrap against his chest. “Any better?” she asked looking up at him, making the space between them even smaller.  
Miles just stared at her. He was completely distracted by how close Charlie was to him, how their faces were only inches apart, so near he could feel her breath on his skin. When had she gone from being that annoying kid that walked into his bar a few weeks ago, to the woman sitting in front of him now?  
“Miles?” Charlie said quietly, snapping him out of his reverie.  
“Uh, yeah,” he stammered after a minute, leaning back against the log, putting some distance between them. “Thanks. Again.”  
She gave him a small smile and stood up. “You’re welcome.”  
Charlie walked over to the side of the fire, where their jackets had finished drying. She picked up hers and slipped it on, thankful for the warmth of the leather to chase away the growing chill in the air. She picked up Miles’s and walked back over, tossing it onto his lap.   
“What, no shirt?” he asked facetiously, carefully shrugging on the coat.  
“Do you really want to try getting a shirt over your head with those ribs?” she asked sarcastically, sitting beside him against the log. “I think it can wait ‘til tomorrow.”  
“Yeah,” he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “You’re probably right.”  
Charlie noticed his exhaustion.  
“Here,” Charlie said patting the side of her leg. “You should lie down, it’ll take some of the pressure off of your ribs.”  
“What?” he looked at her incredulously.  
“Come on. I’ll keep watch, you need to rest,” she told him. When he just sat there, she raised her eyebrow and asked, “Which do you think is more comfortable, my lap or that tree?”  
He sighed in resignation and carefully lowered himself to the ground, trying not to hiss in pain as his ribs objected at the movement. He pulled his jacket tighter around him and rested his head on Charlie’s thigh.   
“So,” Charlie said. “How far downstream do you think we ended up?”  
“No more then a few miles,” he said, but paused when he noticed that Charlie was absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair. It was unexpected, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t pleasant. He let her carry on without a word. “We should be able to meet back up with Nora and Aaron by tomorrow,” he finished  
“You going to be able to make it?” she asked.  
Miles sighed, beginning to feel his eyes growing heavy. “I’ll be fine, so long as we don’t encounter anymore militia.”  
“We could stick to the woods,” she offered. “Follow the river back.”  
At that he chuckled lightly, “I think we’ve both had enough of that river, don’t you?”


End file.
